This article is a review of POSSESSION.

“Does our subject still wear pink socks?” Over 30 years after its Cannes debut, POSSESSION is getting a re-release on Blu-ray and DVD in its 124 minute version. It was once cinema non grata in some quarters, probably down to the sex with a monster scene. Though actually, the runtime is almost entirely disquieting due to the depiction of marital disintegration. Comparisons may be made to Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST, a similar domestic-drama horror mash-up; though arguably POSSESSION’s catalyst is spousal absence, rather than filial grief. The set-ups share a husband forcing himself into his wife’s distress with catastrophic consequences. Mark (Sam Neill – JURASSIC PARK, THE PIANO) returns from a mysterious business trip to find himself unwelcome in his home. Wife Helen (Isabelle Adjani – LA REINE MARGOT, SUBWAY) has grown estranged. That is about as good as their relationship gets, the descent into nightmarish scenes of hysterics and obsession follow. All while their young son Bob is observing the madness.

Anna has given up her job as a ballet teacher; we see via projected footage what a tormentor of her students she had become. Mark discovers his wife has been having an affair, and also stands down from his career to resuscitate his family life. Bob is being neglected, and Anna arbitrarily comes in and out of their lives. The sequence where his superiors debrief Mark is an example of extraordinarily virtuoso camerawork, as it spins round a cavernous office room. And director Andrzej Zulawski together with cinematographer Bruno Nuytten (JEAN DE FLORETTE, MANON DES SOURCES) barely let the lens rest, continually whirling with verve and style, reflecting the agitated states of the protagonists’ minds. There seems little grip on reality and contentment on display. Bob wakes up in the night screaming, and his teacher Helen (also played by Adjani) reports such occurrences in the classroom. At over two hours, there is no respite. One can only take so much screeching; akin to a full movie of that most grating of soap opera staples: The high pitched argument. As if nails are being dragged down a blackboard. Props perhaps should be given then for attempting cinematic sensory discombobulation. However, it becomes wearying, in a dragged out, tedious way. The claustrophobic home, where Mark starts self-harming with an electric meat carver, is contrasted with Anna going into full meltdown in abandoned tunnel in the underground train network. Those are just two examples. Over-the-top and in your face, wrapped in enigmatic plot mechanics, there are elements to admire; but as a whole, POSSESSION is a little too repetitive.